News

Scott, Who Enriched Himself as Governor, Bragged About Florida’s Low Wages

Posted March 27, 2018

Scott Failed To Deliver On Jobs Promises To Most Of Florida

Scott, Who Enriched Himself as Governor, Bragged About Florida’s Low Wages

As a reminder of Rick Scott’s true jobs record, Florida Democratic Party spokesman Sebastian Kitchen released the following statement after his latest campaign stop Belle Glade Tuesday morning:

“Rick Scott is an out-of-touch self-serving politician who, while managing to make himself $46 million wealthier while in office, bragged about Florida paying its workers among the lowest wages in the nation. Thanks to his self-serving politics, half of Florida counties have lost jobs. Rick Scott is looking out for himself – not hard-working Floridians and their families.”

“In November, (the top legislative economist) told the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee that even with the state’s low unemployment rate, 36 of the state’s 67 counties have lost jobs since 2007. Most of those counties were in rural areas of the state.”

“Despite almost 8 years of the governor’s persistent public rhetoric about job-creation, a report from the Florida Chamber found that 36 of 67 counties have actually lost jobs since 2007, before the Great Recession. And according to the data, many of Florida’s rural counties are worse off today than when Scott first won election in 2010.”

Those numbers led to a fellow Republican recently taking “swipes”at Scott’s jobs record.

“Gov. Rick Scott has made job growth the overriding goal of his administration…But how many of those jobs pay enough to sustain a middle-class lifestyle? To the contrary, Scott has trumpeted the state’s low pay, citing it as an inducement for companies to relocate here. The governor is certainly correct as to the skimpiness of paychecks. Weekly wages in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, the state’s highest-paying counties, are $50 below the national norm; in May 2015, at least 109,000 of Palm Beach County’s 565,000 workers weremaking less than $10 an hour.”